Memphis served as a main royal residence and the military, administrative, and economic capital of Egypt for much of its history. The city’s gradual decline had begun already under the Ptolemies, whose true capital was at Alexandria, and important changes in administrative practice during the Roman period diminished its traditional status further. The god Ptah and his earthly manifestation, the divine Apis bull, certainly continued to enjoy both religious and socio-political importance until the first decades of the third century ad at the latest, as will be discussed in the article. Given the fragmentary and haphazard nature of surviving evidence on the site, it is almost impossible to trace a coherent history of traditional Memphite cults beyond this date. This article aims to discuss the decline of the divine Apis bulls in the context of broader historical developments of the third to the fourth centuries ad.

中文翻译：

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三至四世纪孟菲斯城市和圣地景观的变化和神蜂公牛的日蚀

在埃及历史的大部分时间里，孟菲斯都是主要的皇家住所以及埃及的军事、行政和经济首都。这座城市在托勒密统治下已经开始逐渐衰落，其真正的首都在亚历山大，罗马时期行政实践的重大变化进一步削弱了其传统地位。神 Ptah 和他在世上的表现，神圣的 Apis 公牛，无疑继续享有宗教和社会政治的重要性，最迟直到公元 3 世纪的头几十年，正如将在文章中讨论的那样。鉴于现场幸存证据的零碎和随意性质，几乎不可能追溯此日期之后传统孟菲特崇拜的连贯历史。